Mayakoba event building its own spot on TOUR schedule
It was a leap of faith.
In the growth of the global game. In a mystical resort area. In a new golf course. In the players need to fill out the field.
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Would a PGA TOUR event work south of the border? Against the glitzy World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play? In an area where most people had never touched a golf club?
Five years later, the answers to all the above are a serious yes.
The Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya -- the TOUR's first expansion south of the U.S. border -- celebrates its cinco cumpleaños this week. That's fifth birthday. Or aniversario (anniversary) if you wish.
The game's best may be gathered at Dove Mountain this week, but that doesn't mean this opposite-field event less than an hour south of Cancun doesn't pack an interesting punch of its own. And we're not just talking about the cenote -- an ancient cavern -- that greets players on the first fairway.
Fred Funk was 50 and careening toward the Champions Tour in 2007 when he hit a 4-iron approach to 6 feet to beat Jose Coceres on the second playoff hole to win the inaugural event. A year later, Brian Gay picked up the first win of his career at the El Camaleón Golf Club.
Two years ago, a veteran named Mark Wilson won this event -- and look at him now. He has two wins and leads both the money list and FedExCup standings. And last year? Chris Smith opened the week with an emotional comeback after losing his wife in an automobile accident and Cameron Beckman closed with a 67 to win the third tournament of his career.
This year's cast of characters is as eclectic group as you'll find. All the past champs, save Wilson, are back. So are last week's Northern Trust Open champ Aaron Baddeley, shooting star and Bob Hope Classic champ Jhonattan Vegas and former major champions David Toms, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen and John Daly. It's a near 50-50 mix of fresh faces like Bobby Gates and Spencer Levin and veterans like Brad Faxon, Scott Verplank, quirky Woody Austin and Scott McCarron.
As for superstars? Just look to Wednesday's pro am where former LPGA No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, the country's most beloved athlete, will tee it up. And to course designer Greg Norman, who will collaborate with Ochoa on a design in Argentina that will be contend for host-course honors for the Olympics in 2016.
Spectators are already tweeting about Ochoa, who arrived today, and Vegas, the gregarious Venezuelan who tweets in his native Spanish and English. The other players? That will come tournament time.
Here there's a blend of cultures, languages and cuisine -- great Mexican food, but soft drinks in a bottle, no ice for non-locals -- and a tougher sell for the tournament organizers than just about anywhere in the States.
Many spectators have never even held a club, so organizers can't bank on just name recognition. As a result, the tournament focuses on a year-round outreach -- Golf PARa Todos (Golf FORE Everyone) -- to draw people into the game and event.
And, earlier this year, Mayakoba hosted a Guiness world-record 1,073 people for a lesson at one of its monthly sessions. The former Guiness record was 1,032 people last year in Beijing.
TOUR player Esteban Toledo conducted the clinic and was stunned. "This was one of the most incredible things I have participated in my career,'' he said. "I have given golf clinics before maybe 400 people. But never in front of over a thousand people. At one point, I was a little bit nervous because I wanted to make sure we broke the record but also learned something as well."
The players, meanwhile, are sold on the impressive Norman-designed course. Dark-green Paspalum grass sets the par-71 layout apart as do the limestone canals and three distinct landscapes it weaves through -- a jungle, mangroves and oceanfront sand.
This week, Paul Stankowski tweeted, the course is "perfecto." "Might B 1 of the best we play all year! That & the Great weather makes 4 a fun week!''
Not all the players below No. 65 are playing the Mayakoba, which is a 132-player field, but it can be a stepping stone. Ask Wilson or Funk or Matt Kuchar, who played in 2007-2008, or Steve Marino. It doesn't favor any type of player, just one who can keep it in play.
"It's a really tough golf course off the tee if it gets windy, even if it's not windy,'' Funk said. "They have probably five or six holes there that you have to suck it up and hit a good drive and it's just bordered with mangroves.''
Funk did just that in the first year when Norman sold the TOUR on the event and everyone took that leap. A year later, the TOUR debuted in Puerto Rico at the Puerto Rico Open.
And five years later? That leap of faith doesn't seem like such a big one, does it?
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.
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